Reference
- Spanish-American WarThis short war in 1898 that signaled the emergence of the United States as a world power, was a harbinger of the use of intelligence in the 20th century, including the interception of supposedly private communications and the intrusive role of the press, for good and ill.
U.S. President McKinley received intelligence information on the war in Cuba within an hour of the action.
The United States had been, for some years, in a state of protest over Spanish colonial policies in Cuba, only 90 miles from American shores. Moreover, both the U.S. Navy and the Revenue Cutter Service (forerunner of the Coast Guard) had been engaged in the interdiction of gunrunners departing the U.S. coastline to assist Cuban insurgents. Accordingly, the sinking of USS Maine in Havana, the Cuban capital, began operations in circumstances familiar to U.S. forces, at least in the Caribbean region.
However, this would be a world war, and neither the United States, nor Spain, nor any other power had a world-class intelligence organization. Accordingly, there were a number of heroic individual efforts, the most memorable of which was Lieutenant Andrew S. Rowan's carrying a presidential missive to the Cuban insurgents, immortalized in the book, A Message to Garcia. Similarly, in the Pacific, the Pacific Fleet's Admiral George Dewey (who had to purchase his own charts to proceed to the Philippine Islands and defeat Spain's Pacific Fleet), had his aide, Ensign F. B. Upham, pose as a traveler in Hong Kong, interviewing those who had recently visited Spanish possessions in the Pacific. Such makeshift efforts of adapt-improvise-and-overcome were widespread and often remarkably
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Perspectives
The Spanish-American War and President McKinley
This lively, thought-provoking analysis is based on the author's highly acclaimed Presidency of William McKinley. "This is by all odds the best study of the coming of the war, the war itself, and the aftermath of the conflict."--Paul S. Holbo, University of Oregon. "According to the author, McKinley's enhancement of presidential power and his personal leadership in war-making and diplomacy made him 'the first truly modern president.' This thesis is carefully developed and effectively argued. . . . The book's brevity, readability, and interpretive insights make it attractive for the classroom. . . . But this is no mere digest for undergraduates, for more advanced scholars can learn from it, too."--Pacific Historical Review.
The Spanish War
"O'Toole is . . . astonishingly good. . . . [He] is a master of the knack of weaving significant detail into his recapitulation of the war." -Alden Whitman, Chicago Sun-Times
An illustrated history of our war with Spain: its causes, incidents, and results...
Explore the library's vaulted resources through this account of the war with Spain from 1898.
Between the Bullet and the Lie
Learn more about the Spanish American War through the writings of Cecil D. Eby written in the 1960s.
Articles
- The Spanish American War's 'Most Durable Hero': Admiral Pasquale Cervera and Popular Heroic Values in the United States, 1898-1909The United States honored a host of military heroes during the Spanish American War including Pasqual Cervera y Topete, the enemy admiral who had experienced a humiliating defeat at the Battle of Santiago Bay, Cuba (3 June 1898) at the hands of US naval forces. Over the course of the war and in the year that followed, American public opinion of the admiral became positive and increasingly laudatory. By late 1899, Life Magazine, followed by other popular publications, claimed that Cervera was a better war hero then Admiral George Dewey and other American officers who had been wildly celebrated for their wartime heroics. The enemy admiral's heroic rise was possible because of a fundamental change in the relationship between the press and the nation's war heroes that sped up each champion's ultimate decline...
- A Voluntary War: The Spanish-American War, White Southern Manhood, and the Struggle to Recruit Volunteers in the SouthA number of domestic events occurring in 1898 came in response to a breakdown of relations between the US and Spain over the attempt by the latter to end an uprising in its island colony of Cuba. Some white Americans believed the trouble with Spain in early 1898 could be a tonic to heal the ailments of the American past. These whites agreed that the nation's destiny needed to be shaped by Anglo-Saxons. However, as a narrative of sectional reconciliation between North and South, though enticing to many, failed to completely convince all white (and certainly many black) southerners that American entry into the Cuban war was appropriate, especially as a way to reunify the country. But, because of demographics and other issues, at least six southern states had a difficult time meeting the federal government's request for volunteers. Many historians agree that there was a crisis of masculinity in this period. Due to major changes in American society, a new worry had emerged that American men were becoming effeminated.
- The war that made Hollywood: how the Spanish-American War saved the U.S. film industryAmericans first saw motion pictures on a screen in 1896 but had begun to tire of cinema's stale offerings by the end of 1897, and American filmmakers were considering abandoning the unprofitable medium. Then the USS Maine exploded in Havana Harbor (15 February 1898), and a small band of entrepreneurs rushed to capitalize on the disaster. Seizing upon the Spanish-American War's inherent drama, they created films with narrative power, which brought audiences back to theaters and enabled the pioneers to survive the embryonic American film industry's near financial collapse. They soon led the motion picture industry west and helped to make Hollywood the cinematic capital of the world.
Websites
- Spanish-American Conflict of 1898 Treaties and Self-DeterminationBy the 1830s, independence movements reduced Spain’s colonies to Cuba and Puerto Rico in the Caribbean, the Philippines, and several smaller islands in the western Pacific Ocean including Guam, the Marianas, and the Marshall Islands. At the same time, the United States was increasing its global diplomatic presence and economic power, warning European countries throughout the 19th century from attempting to recolonize countries in the Western Hemisphere.
- The Spanish-American War, 1898-U.S. Office of the HistorianThe Spanish-American War of 1898 ended Spain’s colonial empire in the Western Hemisphere and secured the position of the United States as a Pacific power. U.S. victory in the war produced a peace treaty that compelled the Spanish to relinquish claims on Cuba, and to cede sovereignty over Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines to the United States. The United States also annexed the independent state of Hawaii during the conflict. Thus, the war enabled the United States to establish its predominance in the Caribbean region and to pursue its strategic and economic interests in Asia.
- Spanish American War - "A Splendid Little War"- National Park ServiceOn April 21, 1898, the United States declared war against Spain. It would be the first overseas conflict fought by the U.S. It involved major campaigns in both Cuba and the Philippine Islands.
The reasons for war were many, but there were two immediate ones: America's support the ongoing struggle by Cubans and Filipinos against Spanish rule, and the mysterious explosion of the battleship U.S.S. Maine in Havana Harbor.
The Spanish-American War of 1898
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A generation after the Civil War, America fought a major war with Spain over its misrule of Spanish colonies. Investigate such famous battles as the naval action at Manila Bay and the Rough Riders' assault up San Juan Heights. Also, look at the insurgency that frustrated American peace efforts - a problem that resurfaced years later in Vietnam and the Middle East.